Golden Conure Notes from the 2005 Field Season

Golden Conure notes from the 2005 field season Text and Photos By TOA KYLE

Brazil’s national gas company, PetroBras, has chosen the Golden Conure as it’s mascot, thus this five foot cartoon effigy of the species is found at hundreds of service stations across the country. Hopefully this raised profile for the species will translate into more concern for those flocks which still persist in the wild.

conservation efforts in both regions of the species’ range can be initiated, applying a different suite of methods in each case.

Results from this survey are encouraging in terms of confirming the presence of Golden Conure within protected areas. Future research may utilize these sites for comparative studies of the species' ecology in natural and degraded habitats. IBAMA (the Brazilian government’s environmental agency) offices for both the TNF and ANP issued research permits promptly and were receptive to the possibility of future conservation efforts. Given the history of rapid deforestation in the state of Pará these reserves have taken on strategic importance in preserving the state´s rich biodiversity.

However the tendency of Golden Conure to select nest and roost trees in human altered landscapes illustrates the concept that the presence of a reserve does not necessarily guarantee protection for the birds.

Education efforts aimed at communities bordering these reserves, enhancement of enforcement of existing laws, and direct protection of nest/roost sites will minimize negative human impacts on these unique, spectacular parrots.

One final story from the 2004 survey involves a banana farmer I met along the Cupari River. I told him I was looking for Golden Conures and he smiled. Apparently, the birds occasionally raid his banana trees.

When I asked him if he shot them to protect his crops, he replied, “No. I don’t kill beautiful things.”

Conservation efforts for this year’s Golden Conure work are progressing well thus far. We've just completed a three week stint in the Cupari river region bordering the Tapajós National Forest and are presently initiating community outreach work and searches for conures found outside Amazônia National Park.

The decision was made to work in western conservation work in the state.

Pará over the eastern part of the state due to The goal of this year’s efforts is to security concerns. Brazilian colleagues concentrate more on conure populations basically talked me out of working in the found outside reserves, as well as east this year. An American nun, Dorothy implement educational efforts geared Stang, was brutally murdered earlier this towards those communities living with February in southeastern Pará. Stang was these ‘nonreserve’ birds. At present we still an active force in the region, attempting to don't know if conures regularly migrate in preserve rainforest and help the rural poor and out of the reserves in search of food secure small parcels of land to grow and nesting sites. Golden subsistence crops on. Powerful landowners resources Conures, like many other parrot species, with vested logging interests in the same readily utilize degraded, open habitats, so area allegedly paid gunmen to assassinate ensuring the continuity of flocks in these her in broad daylight. In addition, areas is crucial to the species’ survival.

Brazilian parrot biologist, Carlos The challenge is convincing locals to Yamashita, was apparently threatened the minimize impacts on remaining habitat and last time he worked with Golden Conures refrain from nest poaching. on the Cupim river in eastern Pará by loggers who didn’t want conservationists in André Ravetta, a Brazilian biologist, the area. Violent killings are less common assisted me by conducting interviews with in western Pará but conflicts are not people living along the non-reserve side of unknown. An acquaintance I met last the Cupari River in order to get a better season who was working for IBAMA in sense of what sort of land use activities Itaituba, requested a transfer after she occur in this area. We also gave received a death threat from a local logger. presentations to schoolchildren. To initiate The shotgun diplomacy of Pará is an the dialogue with locals we created a poster unfortunate reality for anyone conducting featuring a beautiful photo of Golden

Brazilian biologist André Ravetta explains the Golden Conure poster to school children at a community found along the Cupari river. This was the first time students had received any kind of environmental education presentation at their school.

PsittaScene Volume 17, No 2, May 2005 ■ 5

Photo: Luiz Claudio Marigo

Residents are paid as little as $20 per tree, some of which will fetch over $1,000 at the saw mill. Local government agencies are simply understaffed and underfunded to adequately control illegal logging. And there's the issue of the ever present capangas or hired gunmen who take care of anyone who gets in the way of logging interests. In short, the plight of these Cupari birds is the same for countless other species throughout the Amazon. At least in the case of the forest bordering the Cupari, logging and agricultural is not happening on a large scale, for the time being.

Conures taken by acclaimed Brazilian wildlife photographer, Luis Claudio Marigo. The text features basic information on the species, as well as a toll free number that can be accessed to report illegal trafficking. The poster ended up being a great way of getting people to open up and talk not only about their local knowledge of conures but their attitudes towards nature in general.

What really surprised me was the receptivity of locals to the poster. Most people immediately put it up in their house in a place of prominence. I didn't get the feeling they were merely being polite, rather that they found the colourful poster a welcome addition to their home. On several occasions, I was even approached by individuals we hadn’t yet spoken to requesting posters for their homes as well.

It is very gratifying to find that these people found the conures as beautiful as I do, their appreciation being deepened by the realization that the bird is unique to this part of the Amazon and found in no other country but Brazil. Interestingly in western Pará, many people erroneously refer to Golden Conures as ‘jandayas’ (Aratinga jandaya), instead of the correct common name, ararajuba. One possible explanation may be that many colónos (the name for the migrant rural poor in the Amazon) are originally from northeastern Brazil where Jandaya Parakeets are found.

The more sobering details of our visit to the Cupari river region involve the living conditions of the colónos. On average most couples have ten children, families of 15 kids not being uncommon. While some individuals will likely migrate to larger towns when they mature, many will remain in the area to raise families of their own thus placing more stress on the remaining forest. On the whole most land properties were relatively small. By Brazilian law, colónos are entitled to 100 ha of land, 80% of which must be left as virgin forest.

Most inhabitants practice subsistence 6 ■ PsittaScene Volume 17, No 2, May 2005

agriculture, mainly growing crops of manioc, rice and corn. When the soil quality in a given plot wanes after 3-4 years, more forest is cleared and burned, perpetuating the cycle of forest degradation. The process of actually receiving title for a property is a confusing and slow process. I met one gentleman who’d lived along the Cupari for 18 years and still didn’t have official title to his land.

The 80% rule didn’t appear to be respected either. In one community we visited, two bulldozers were busy opening up the road that connects the settlement to the nearest highway. We were told later that the work was being done to clear the way for logging trucks in the upcoming dry season.

The encouraging news is that Golden Conures flocks persist in the region. We found eight flocks of birds, up from the four found in 2004. As was the case last season, no signs of poaching were encountered. For once it seems, conservationists have arrived to an area before the bird traffickers. Locals have been very helpful in recommending other sites to be searched, including rumours of nest trees thus more flocks likely remain to be found. It is hoped that a more permanent field presence can be maintained in the future, not only to better understand the conservation needs of the species but also to nurture the relationships we’re creating with local communities. Clearly, the survival of these Cupari flocks depends upon the cooperation and support of the people that share their environs with these special birds.

Please stay tuned for Red-fronted Macaws We indicated on the back of the February issue of PsittaScene that we’d fill you in on our field conservation work with Red-fronted Macaws in Bolivia. As that is not yet complete, we very much appreciate your patience through a one-issue delay, and we’ll look forward to providing you with a full report with lots of pictures in the next issue.

Until then, here’s a view from the top of a nest cliff of a pair Red-fronts returning to the next cliff at the end of a long day of foraging.

Photo: Jamie Gilardi